This invention relates to devices designed to alert a pet owner that his/her pet would like to enter or exit the home.
There have been a great many patents issued for inventions designed to signal the pet owner when his/her pet wants to come inside or go outside their home, including older patents such as U.S. Pat. 1,118,283 to R. H. Holdefer and U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,122 to F. M. Adams Oct. 13, 1953 and more recent patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,369 to Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,478 to Grady, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,926 to Syverson.
These signaling devices can be used in conjunction with a training device. The pet owner uses the pet""s favorite food or treat in a suitable receptacle associated with the signaling devices to train the pet to depress the signal button lever. The sound of the signal which the animal hears relates the opening of the door to the pets favorite treat. When this procedure is repeated in several training sessions, the pet will have been programmed into a xe2x80x9chabitxe2x80x9d. The more times the pet successfully rings the bell promptly followed by the opening of the door, and the treat, the more the habit is enforced. Once the xe2x80x9chabitxe2x80x9d is created, the pet will associate the sound of the door chimes, the opening of the door and the dinner that it receives all as one unit. In other words, the sound, the door opening and the treat or dinner become inseparable within the mind of the pet. Later, it will not be necessary to give the pet a treat each time it comes inside.
Despite the obvious desire by pet owners for such a device, they have not achieved significant commercial success and it is difficult to find a place to purchase such devices. It appears that these past inventions inadequately address the needs of specific pets and specific pet owners but instead attempt to produce a single design product for all pets irrespective of size or character of the animal with the result that the devices tend to misfire and/or the pet is unable to consistently strike, push, scratch or whatever to produce the desired signal. In particular, the existing devices appear to be designed primarily for larger dogs but do not function equally effectively for cats and small or toy dogs. For example, the specific examples shown for the more recent prior art all describe a vertical activating surface in which the pet must reach upward and xe2x80x9cswipexe2x80x9d at the surface with a paw or push on it with its nose. A cat""s nose is surrounded by extremely sensitive whiskers which it uses to xe2x80x9csensexe2x80x9d or feel the world around it. Most cats carefully avoid use of the nose and whiskers as anything other than sensory organs; seldom if ever will a cat be observed using the nose/whiskers part of its body as a pushing tool. Cats and small dogs have no hesitation, however, to step forward or push something at or below head level with a paw.
The Baker patent states in broad terms that the claimed device can be used in a horizontal position but provides no specifics for a horizontal adaptation. Attempts to utilize a device of the Baker type have shown that the Baker device is not readily adapted to the horizontal usage and is not suitable for most cats and small dogs.
The present invention has been specifically designed for indoor/outdoor cats and small dogs, such as the toy dog breed, and to be free of misfires when used by such pets. In essence, the present invention is an improvement in the Baker device so as to permit its ready use in the horizontal position. The complete device comprises a light, sturdy housing, a wireless signal transmitter, a treadle cover and a flex-plate which cooperate to activate the signal button of the wireless signal transmitter, one or more wireless receivers, and appropriate mounting means for the various parts. Rather than a vertical activating surface, the device is provided with a horizontal activating surface which can be readily operated through the use of an extended paw with the weight of the animal behind it to insure that misfires are avoided and the signal is transmitted effectively. The signal then activates the wireless signaling device such as a bell or chime which can be heard inside and outside the home simultaneously.